This invention relates to a food holder used primarily to slice a bagel, which is a donut-shaped bread, into two slices.
Donut-shaped bagels are sliced into two pieces to sandwich foods such as cheese, jam, etc. between the slices. This is not limited to bagels, and thickly cut loaf-bread, etc. can also be sliced into two pieces. Further, this is not limited to bread, as other foods can also be sliced into two pieces.
For this application, a food holder, which holds a food item from both sides, is used. The food holder holds the food in an upright position by sandwiching it between two vertical plates. Knife guides are provided on both sides of the gap between the parallel vertical plates to slice food held between the vertical plates into pieces of equal thickness. The knife guides are provided with guide slits for moving a knife or other bladed utensil vertically. In this food holder, food held in the gap between the parallel vertical plates is cut vertically into slices of equal thickness by moving a knife or other blade through the guide slits.
This configuration of food holder can accurately slice food, which is the same thickness as the width of the gap between vertical plates, into slices of equal thickness. However, since the size of the gap between vertical plates is fixed and cannot be adjusted in this type of food holder, it has the drawback that it cannot accurately slice food which is narrower than the gap. This is because space is created between the food and the vertical plates, and the food cannot be held in the correct position without moving. Further, this food holder also has the drawback that it cannot slice food which is wider than the gap between vertical plates. This is because use wider food cannot be inserted into the gap between vertical plates.
To eliminate these drawbacks, a food holder with vertical plates that can be adjusted to change the gap size between the plates has been marketed. This food holder has two vertical plates connected to a base in a manner allowing the vertical plates to slide laterally. The vertical plates can slide and the gap between the plates can be adjusted. When wide foods are sliced, the two vertical plates are mutually separated to make the gap between them wider.
In this type of food holder, the vertical plates can be adjusted according to width of the food to hold that food between the plates, a knife or other blade can be moved through the guide slits, and the food can be sliced into two pieces. However, this type of food holder has the drawback that foods cannot be accurately cut into slices of equal thickness. This is because the two vertical plates slide independently, and when they are moved the position of the guide slits in the knife guides strays from the center of the gap between the parallel vertical plates.
The present invention was developed with the object of eliminating this drawback. Thus it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a food holder for slicing food into two pieces, which can accurately slice food into pieces of the same thickness with extremely simple operation and regardless of the food thickness.
The above and further objects and features of the invention will more fully be apparent from the following detailed description with accompanying drawings.